WSSU budget cut by $1.8 million

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WINSTON-SALEM, NC -- Winston-Salem State University will have $1.8 million less with which to operate this fiscal year. That's a 2.66 percent budget cut according to the university.

The cut is a result of larger cuts to the higher education budget at the state level. The General Assembly cut $64 million from that budget earlier this year.

These budget cuts will mean $30 million in cuts to WSSU's budget over the past five years, according to Director of Public Relations Nancy Young.

"The longer it goes, the deeper the cuts, the harder to deal with," Young said.

Young said WSSU has vacant positions and adjunct professors in the past to make budget. She said the goal is to avoid cutting faculty in order to insulate students from the cuts and avoid having to offer fewer classes.

Young said the recent purchase of Bowman Gray Stadium by the University had no impact on the budget.

"We call that a self-liquidizing purchase," Young said. She explained the university will make the money back by operating events and no longer paying a lease to the City of Winston-Salem.

Winston-Salem State is also set to open a brand new student center on September 6. The money to build it came from a state bond issue in 2004.